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32 Cities Want To Challenge Big Telecom, Build Their Own Gigabit Networks

Posted by Soulskill on from the they-just-want-to-be-able-to-throttle-netflix dept.

Jason Koebler writes: More than two dozen cities in 19 states announced today that they're sick of big telecom skipping them over for internet infrastructure upgrades and would like to build gigabit fiber networks themselves and help other cities follow their lead. The Next Century Cities coalition, which includes a couple cities that already have gigabit fiber internet for their residents, was devised to help communities who want to build their own broadband networks navigate logistical and legal challenges to doing so.

10 of 175 comments (clear)

  1. 'Bout time by MitchDev · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Fuck Comcast, Time Warner, and AT&T

    1. Re:'Bout time by Midnight+Thunder · · Score: 4, Insightful

      These cities should build the infrastructure, focus on the infrastructure and then allow service providers to compete with each other for service. Essentially, government deals with infrastructure since they are generally good with that and private business on the sevice, since they are generally good with that when there is healthy competition.

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    2. Re:'Bout time by Idimmu+Xul · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I love it, private business has fucked you guys so bad that a social enterprise has cropped up to fix the problem. And the first thing you think of is to give that social enterprise back to the same businesses that just completely fucked you.

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  2. Hey Verizon, can you hear us NOW! by haruchai · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Nice to see cities stepping up to build better network infrastructure
    And if we can hold onto Net Neutrality, even better.

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    Pain is merely failure leaving the body
    1. Re:Hey Verizon, can you hear us NOW! by haruchai · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Hmm, well sometimes you need a little socialism to keep the capitalists in line.

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      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
    2. Re:Hey Verizon, can you hear us NOW! by Strangely+Familiar · · Score: 5, Insightful
      I see it more as monopoly busting in the last mile, not socialism. The companies sitting on their last mile monopolies are not all about free markets. They are all about capturing legislators and regulators to pass laws and regulations to maintain their monopolies. It is capitalism ("moneyism") in its crudest form, but has nothing to do with free markets.

      Unfortunately, the last mile tends to be a natural monopoly, as far as municipal planners are concerned. They don't want companies to come in and compete over the easiest to serve neighborhoods, and leave people in less dense areas out of luck. Planners like that often lose votes. So they have to make a company agree to cover everyone, and then make sure no competitor comes in and serves just the easy areas. See? It just ends up being a monopoly.

      So rather than have some new private company come in and take over the monopoly, cities are just deciding to provide services themselves. They do it with roads, sewers, water, and other utilities. Why not internet? You need right of ways, permits, etc. But you don't need to be a genius entrepeneur to run fiber and connect people to the Internet.

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    3. Re: Hey Verizon, can you hear us NOW! by Veritech_Ace · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yep, it was pure, unadulterated laissez-faire capitalism that got us into our modern telecoms mess. Not a government subsidy or market-distorting policy to be found. Good thing that our well-informed, honest bureaucrats will wield the fine scalpel of government to make it right, like they did in 1996.

  3. Really pisses me off! by EzInKy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Even with my tiny less then 6mb connection AT&T continues to threaten to charge me more for exceeding their 150gb bandwidth limit. They are already sucking over $100 a month from me, yet they still want more. It is way past due for the entire U.S. to consider cruising the internet as neceassary as cruising the roads. This is required infrastructure as necessary to survive today as highways were 30 years ago. So many mundane tasks such as keeping up with current events and even paying your bills necisatate using the internet that considering it a luxory is really out of synch with the current reality. The internet as become necessary for everyone to have, so the internet must be free for everyone to access.

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    Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
  4. Re:and the cities are... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    WARNING. WARNING. Make sure ISPs get classified as common carriers before your city takes over as your ISP.

    City council will vote to fuck you over if they're not required to be common carriers.

    e.g. "Woah. We can add $10 billion to the annual city budget if we inject ads and block encryption. All in favor? ... Passed by unanimous vote."

  5. Re:Boston by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Verizon isn't seeing the return on capital for FIOS; that is well known. They think they can increase subscriber rates in areas they have covered and recover the capital that way.

    What they completely miss is the fact that the use-cases that will drive more valuable service plans only exist when ~gigabit networks are available everywhere.

    The problem I see with either approach is that business internet costs aren't going down fast enough to push that evolution. You get better speeds for less in a co-lo, but that doesn't help enough if you use a single office location.